The tight relationship between brand name creation & visual identity design

Every so often we help our clients with brand name creation; we’ve also worked alongside other naming shops or experts. Even just last week, one of my clients was sharing their short list of 10 brand names they came up with and asked for my creative input. My first reaction is, “The list is too short!”

It’s undeniably hard to own a name nowadays. Once the names go through the preliminary legal screening process, you are looking at possibly 10-15% (at most!) of names that can pass trademark clearance. It’s even more insane in some saturated industries/classes like health & wellness. I am always in awe of naming creatives who come up with hundreds of names in a short period of project time. There must be some crazy methodology behind the scenes – beyond the magic of analogies, acronyms, abbreviations, or cool-sounding invented words.

Interestingly, when we design a custom logotype, we have similar practical, cultural, and legal considerations. Is it easy to pronounce? Will it enable your market growth? Will there be a good chance it will involve a lawsuit?!

As a designer myself, I often think about the visual harmony, and associated meaning and memorability of the characters. Letters like A, V, and W can create a strong appearance, yet R, C, S, and O can convey the idea of movement easily. Even the capitalization of the letters will signal a different feeling. The uppercase E is blocky and the lowercase e is soft and delicate. Then, there are letter pairings that create uneven optical gaps (ugh!) or a surprising sense of continuity (yay!). In an ideal world, involving a brand designer in the naming process is the best way to land on a strategic solution, because you can get a holistic view of what’s possible (or not possible) with a name.

The sound of the name is as important as the look of the name. Both aspects should create the same reference point and association in people’s minds, whether you hear it from a podcast, or see it on a billboard. When you have, sometimes, just four simple letters in a name, you want to optimize impact. I’m always asked if we can create a visual identity that can communicate a trillion things about the business; it’s impossible. Just the same, names will never tell the entire story – think about Apple or Amazon. They serve to create new feelings, atmospheres, and experiences in a category. They create new worlds for customers to live in. So when you think about the importance and challenge and possibility and power of a name, make sure you have an awesome writer/strategist and a talented designer in the room together.